Center Stand and Side Stand Damaging Garage Floor

[T Cro ®]

Many years ago I power washed the garage concrete, scrubbed with, then power washed it again (with the high-power rotating blaster tip), then chemically etched it with the acid stuff in the kit, then used two-part epoxy paint as instructed.  It still scratched.  And where the car tires sit,  the paint pulled up    Now it looks worse than if I had never painted it. 

Early this year we leased and moved into what would be called by most a "high end" house and while I didn't look real close the 3 car garage floor had a near perfect painted finish. On the night we moved in I got the trailer parked inside due to rain and then parked the SUV mind you by the time I got either one parked the tires could not have held any heat. The next morning both the trailer and SUV tires lifted some paint.... Dang I thought! Every piece of wheeled equipment I own has lifted up some paint since then; bike, riding mower, and golf cart too. I think the old man had someone paint it with porch and floor (just a guess) just so it would look as nice as the rest of the house; only garage I'd seen with finished sheetrock walls, textured sheetrock ceiling and even has baseboard molding where it meets the block wall.....

As for keeping the bike from scratching the floor really? Any simple thin durable item should do for the side stand a blank electrical cover plate or flattened beer can comes to mind. And for the center stand a piece of thin 1/8" alum plate 12" x 12" backed with some equally thin 1/8" red rubber sheeting to prevent slippage when getting the bike up onto should do the trick quite nicely.

[1jeep]

I have finished walls and ceiling, painted and I even have ceiling fans and heat....gotta keep the babies comfortable when they are resting.

[VirginiaJim]

I want your garage.  Mine is bare walls/studs (not on the house side).  Heat in the summer and cooling in the winter.  If it gets too cold I have a propane heater and one of those big portable lights on a stand that throws out some heat as well.  I don't think I'm allowed in my subdivision to have AC window units unfortunately.  One of my projects is to get insulation in the walls and drywall up.

[1jeep]

when we first built our house it wasn't finished, that winter we went on vacation and came back to find everything frozen in there. Also we have a room above the garage that is attached into the house that room would be very cold all the time.

So it was in the end better to finish the garage and heat it.....and my wife believed me...lol

[T Cro ®]

I want your garage.  Mine is bare walls/studs (not on the house side).  Heat in the summer and cooling in the winter.  If it gets too cold I have a propane heater and one of those big portable lights on a stand that throws out some heat as well.  I don't think I'm allowed in my subdivision to have AC window units unfortunately.  One of my projects is to get insulation in the walls and drywall up.

What about an in-wall unit? Even a window unit can look rather neat if installed through the wall. Or if you ever get that serious a wall hung split unit.

My last garage was insulated and paneled to which I added heat for winter time past time.... Starting new all over again now but don't think I'll heat this new garage but if I get it fixed up and organized one day I'll surely put up ceiling fans and an old extra TV hung on the wall. It's so quite where we live I need a little music just to keep my ears from ringing when I'm in the garage. 

[sailor_chic]

Here is a couple pics of my garage, and my "kids". The floor is the Rust Oleum 2 part epoxy. Knock on wood, but I have never had a problem with parking hot tires on the floor. I have done this hundreds of times in 6 yrs. I am very impressed with this coating and would definitely do it again if the need arose.

[Rhino]

Here is a couple pics of my garage, and my "kids". The floor is the Rust Oleum 2 part epoxy. Knock on wood, but I have never had a problem with parking hot tires on the floor. I have done this hundreds of times in 6 yrs. I am very impressed with this coating and would definitely do it again if the need arose.

Nice!

[VirginiaJim]

Yeah, I like that tool box and the welder...

And there's Mr. Max, not to be confused with our Max.

[Cold Streak]

If you have a Menards near you they sell a roll of rubber matting that is made for parking your vehicles on that can withstand oil, gas, diesel or whatever.  I suppose the other home supply stores probably have it too.  It comes in a roll that is 5' x 10'.  I bought two of them to make a 10' x 10' area for my bikes.  I'll probably get another one.  I used double sided tape to hold them in place.

[jonathan]

How about using a thin plastic cutting board?

[1jeep]

sailorchic.....after seeing the picture of your garage I feel like I should go home and clean mine out! Maybe my wife is right, there is too much crap in mine, you can barely walk through it.

BTW...nice Max!...my father had one, bought it brand new and held onto it for many years. unfortunately last year he started thinning the heard and sold that and the xr650r along with his sporty 1200.

[just gone]

For the side-stand I put a small 1 foot square piece of 3/4" plywood down, but I can't do that with the center stand as it would make it way too hard for me to roll it back. 
What do you guys do?

Get three 2' X 2' pieces of 3/4" thick plywood. Line them up into a 2' X 4' arrangement with the 3rd one on top of the end facing out of the garage, so that
as you drive in the front wheel goes over the 1.5 inch thickness then drops down to the 3/4 inch thickness. Continue forward until the rear wheel is on the
1.5 inch thickness then put down the kick stand (yeah, it will tilt more than usual) then dismount and put it on the center stand on top of the 3/4 inch piece
of plywood. Then remove the two pieces from under the rear wheel.

They do make some sort of roller system that's been discussed previously.  Someone should chime in about that.

As for the roller system, I do plan on doing something like that, haven't decided what yet tho, and in the mean time don't want to do too much damage.

As for the roller arrangement, I use the Park 'N' Move under the center stand after I first ride the rear wheel up over the 1.5 inch thickness of plywood. (I only use the two pieces of plywood.)

There is also the Harbor Freight roller option. I have no experience with it, but it is less than half the cost of the Park 'N' Move.

[Leo]

I used two pieces of self stick kitchen floor tile that was left from the remodel.  After a few years they were starting to get chewed up, but they came up with a thick putty knife and two more were less than $3.

[tomp]

How about a rubber welcome mat?  Not going to slip and may make the bike feel more at home, when parked in the garage...tp

[Conniesaki]

Anything hard or rubbery (easy boys!) probably still has a chance of removing paint.

How about a carpet remnant upside down, maybe 6'x2' ... and then with a piece of 1/2" plywood laying on that? Combined they would distribute the load significantly, and keep any hard parts of the plywood from touching the painted floor.

Could be any ol' ugly carpet (aka cheap) too ... since it'd be upside down.

Could even glue the carpet to the plywood before using it, so they stay aligned with each other.

[Conniesaki]

How about a rubber welcome mat?  Not going to slip and may make the bike feel more at home, when parked in the garage...tp

[VirginiaJim]

I guess this has turned into how cheap frugal one can get with protecting the floor....  A vinyl remnant perhaps?

[Rembrant]

And where the car tires sit,  the paint pulled up    Now it looks worse than if I had never painted it. 

Yup...my garage floor is the same. I paint my garage floor every couple years with an alkid enamel in Zodiac Grey...lol.
The kickstands peel it off, and when I park a bike inside with hot tires, the paint sticks in the exact contact patch of the tires. Looks kind of funky until I wear it off the tires again (which doesn't take long of course;).

Rem

[Rembrant]

I guess this has turned into how cheap frugal one can get with protecting the floor....  A vinyl remnant perhaps?

Speaking of cheap frugal, if you really want a durable rubber mat for next to nothing (or no money) just drop by a gravel pit or rock quarry, etc and ask for a few feet of conveyor belt. It's usually 3-4 feet wide, and they'll have old rolls of it laying around that you can cut pieces off. It's about the toughest stuff you can get your hands on, and they buy it in rolls that are bigger than a minivan, so they often have 'extra' laying around somewhere;)

Rem

[VirginiaJim]

I think that wins the prize!